


Fallout

by Quipxotic



Series: In a Kinder Universe [3]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Awkward Romance, F/M, Post-Battle of Scarif, Post-Battle of Yavin, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-15
Updated: 2017-01-31
Packaged: 2018-09-17 17:30:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9335216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quipxotic/pseuds/Quipxotic
Summary: Jyn, Cassian, and the other survivors of Scarif find their way back to the rebel fleet. But surviving the battle doesn’t mean they can avoid the consequences of their decisions.





	1. Compassion and Vigilance

> _“She’d always struck him as a person unafraid to die. Now she seemed like someone who couldn’t._
> 
> _He should have been terrified of following her into battle. He no longer understood her, could no longer locate her old need for answers, her desperate grasps at meaning. Yet he’d faced down her loathing during the return from Eadu, walked a razor-fine edge before the briefing on Yavin, uncertain what would happen after._
> 
> _He’d told the story of his mission before the council. Jyn had told the story of hers. And Cassian had realized that setting his sniper rifle aside had roused a hunger in him. He’d tried to imagine executing another coldly elegant mission for Draven and finding nourishment in the stale, momentary thrills of danger and triumph._
> 
> _He couldn’t survive that way anymore.”_ \- Cassian Andor [ _Rogue One: A Star Wars Story_ (p. 218) by Alexander Freed.]

“If you want me gone,” Jyn’s voice was clipped, angry, “just say so, and I’m gone.”

Cassian didn’t want a fight, but it looked liked he’d get one anyway. He tried to keep his own frustration out of his tone, knowing that would only exacerbate the issue. “That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

All the survivors of Scarif who made it to the Rebel Alliance hospital ship _Compassion and Vigilance_ had injuries, but Cassian’s had been the worst and his recovery was taking longer than anyone hoped. One by one, the others were cleared by the staff and left the recovery room. Eventually, after Jyn passed their health protocols, the medical staff moved him to a smaller, private room.

But while everyone else would periodically check on him and then leave, Jyn had stayed by his bedside throughout his recovery. It was almost as if she had appointed herself his personal guard. Cassian appreciated the sentiment, but for two people used to being in constant motion the forced convalescence was extremely difficult to stomach. Both of them were impatient and on edge - their constant togetherness made it easy for them to pick pointless arguments with each other out of frustration. 

“How about you don’t tell me what I know,” Jyn replied, eyes narrowed.

Cassian sighed. Time for a different tactic. “I like having you here…”

Jyn scowled at him and began to pace again.

“But I’m not the only one who needs you. Bodhi-“ 

“Bodhi has Tonc. And Danva,“ Jyn added almost as an afterthought.

“Yes but, depending on what they decide to do with us, Tonc and Danva will probably go back to whatever’s left of their units soon.”

Jyn stopped pacing and stared at him intently. “You think they’re going to, what - discipline us for Scarif?” It seemed less like random question and more like she was confirming her own suspicions. 

Cassian shrugged. “It’s a possibility. We stole a ship and valuable equipment. We recruited others and staged a raid on an Imperial installation without prior approval from Alliance Command or the Council…”

“We also got them the Death Star plans!” Jyn yelled, then remembered herself and lowered her voice. “And we’re the main reason they still have an Alliance! If it wasn’t for us, the rebellion would have broken apart after that meeting at Yavin.”

“True, and for some people that would be enough to cancel out all the rest. I doubt Mon Mothma minds a bit of insubordination when balanced against the survival of the Alliance. But not everyone will feel that way.”

“Draven?” She searched his face again, trying to guess his thoughts.

Cassian kept his facial expression neutral. “Among others.”

She seemed to sense that he was holding back. “What aren’t you telling me, Cassian? Have you heard something…”

“I haven’t heard anything,” he complained bitterly, his impatience getting the better of him. “That’s the problem!” He looked down and ran a hand through his hair in a nervous gesture as he attempted to regain control of his emotions. 

When he looked back up, Jyn had closed the distance between them. She sat on the edge of his bed and put her hand on his arm, waiting until he made eye-contact. Once he did, she spoke carefully, her anger and suspicion replaced by sincere concern. “Talk to me, Cassian,” Jyn said quietly. “Please.”

He sighed and looked away, before finally giving in. “No, I haven’t heard anything. That’s not unusual - Alliance Intelligence often holds back information from field operatives for security reasons and in case of capture. They tell you what you need to know, when they feel you need to know it.” He looked at her face again. “But by now I would have expected something more than the basic debrief that we’ve all had. Typically in that situation, I’d see what I could find out on my own - listen to conversations in the mess, idle chatter in the corridors or in the ops rooms, but now…”

“But now you’re stuck here,” Jyn finished for him, “so you’re cut off from being able to gather intel. Which is why…”

“I asked you to check on Bodhi and the others? Yes,” he agreed. It was part of the reason, at any rate. 

A hint of a smile crossed Jyn’s face and her eyes twinkled with mischief. “Captain Andor, are you asking me to spy on the Rebel Alliance?” 

“No!” he said, suddenly worried. Dozens of possible scenarios suddenly spun out in his head for where that could lead and few of the outcomes were good. “I don’t want you to do anything that could put you at risk or make them suspicious…” he corrected himself, “more suspicious of you or your motives. But you could walk about a bit, explore the ship, catch up with the others. And in the process, if you happen to get a sense of what’s going on…” he shrugged, “then who could complain?”

She chuckled. “Probably quite a few people. But it’s worth a shot.” She patted his arm and stood up - now that she had a mission, she was ready to start immediately. Cassian envied her. “Will you actually try to get some rest while I’m gone?”

“I’ll try,” he lied. 

Jyn smiled at him with fond skepticism, before leaning down to whisper in his ear. “Next time you want my help, all you have to do is ask.” 

With her this close to him, Cassian felt his heart rate speed up - a fact that was broadcast to the room by the increased beeping of the monitor beside his bed. He huffed, annoyed by the device’s betrayal and even more so by Jyn’s knowing smile as she pulled back slightly to watch his embarrassment with amusement. He retaliated by shifting so that his lips brushed against the corner of her mouth - not a kiss, just the slightest touch. Her breath hitched and it was his turn to grin up at her.

“I thought you wanted me to go,” Jyn observed, a bit chagrined, “or have you changed your mind?”

Cassian pursed his lips slightly. “No,” he sighed, leaning away from her, “you need to go. But I wasn’t lying before, I do…enjoy your company.” Which should be obvious by now, he thought grumpily.

“Glad to hear it.” She straightened. “So I’ll find out what I can and then I’ll come back.” Another grin. “And then we can see who blinks first.”

“Good.” He didn’t trust himself to say any more than that. 

“Good,” Jyn agreed. Then, with the briefest of nods, she left the room. 

Cassian let out a breath that he didn’t realize he’d been holding and lay heavily back against his pillows. This was the wrong time and the wrong place to start getting attached to someone. But as he’d told Jyn once, not everyone got to choose when and where they wanted to care about something...or someone. He closed his eyes and counted his breaths, an old trick he used to focus his thoughts. He had only gotten to thirty when he heard the door open again.

He opened his eyes and was surprised to see General Draven standing in the doorway.

“Ah, Captain Andor. Good to see you looking better,” he said, a bit too smoothly.

“Sir.” Cassian tried to sit up straighter, but was prevented by the medical devices he was connected to. He hadn’t seen the general since Yavin IV and briefly wondered if the man had been keeping tabs on him during his recovery. Cassian decided it would be better not to ask - that would bring up the subject of how and why he’d left Yavin IV. Better to let Draven broach that first.

The general nodded curtly in reply and strode over to the room’s only chair, dragging it noisily to a position near Cassian’s bed before sitting down. “Now,” Draven began, folding his arms over his chest and looking down on Cassian severely, “let’s talk about Scarif and your future, Captain.”


	2. An Uncertain Future

_And then we can see who blinks first?_

Jyn groaned. It had sounded so much better in her head than when she’d said it out loud. 

It’s not like Cassian was good at this either...whatever it was they were doing. Flirting? She supposed that was as good a word for it as any. Weren’t intelligence operatives supposed to be experienced at that sort of thing? Surely he’d had to seduce people in the past to get information? Jyn immediately tried to shut down that line of thought. The last thing she wanted was the mental image of Cassian Andor seducing other people. Or seducing her as part of his job. Was that what he was doing, she wondered. Manipulating her to keep her onside? Was all of this a game, or part of a plan to set her up for…

Stop, Jyn told herself. Just stop. 

Cassian had trusted her. He had chosen, based on little more than her word, to commit his life and the lives of people he valued to a suicide mission. Then in the data archives, despite his injuries, he’d climbed up the communication tower in order to save her and make sure the Death Star plans were sent to the rebel fleet.

She hadn’t completely forgiven him for his role in Galen Erso's death but, whatever else he was, Cassian was not her enemy. She’d have to be a paranoid fool to deny all the evidence of his good intentions.

Jyn blinked as she came back to herself. She’d been leaning against a corridor wall not far from Cassian’s room, blind to all that happened around her as she’d become lost in her own head. Crew members walked past her, a few of whom threw her looks of concern or confusion. Jyn straightened and resumed walking toward the ship’s mess, rebuking herself for her dangerous lapse of focus. She’d have to be careful of that in the future. 

Part of it was this place - it unnerved her. It was too clean, too orderly. It felt sterile in every sense and vaguely stifling. Jyn was uncomfortable here. Plus, she had no role to fill on the ship, no task to complete, which left her with only endless free time to dwell on her worries and suspicions. 

Cassian had touched on one such worry: what would happen to them now that they were back with the Alliance? She’d been so focused on getting them all to safety, and in particular getting Cassian medical attention, that she hadn’t had time to think about what would happen afterwards. Now she was beginning to wonder if coming here had been a mistake. Over the last few weeks, Cassian, Bodhi, Tonc, and Danva had become her crew, her comrades, her friends, and her responsibility. Perhaps it was too soon to call them her family, but it felt very much like that was the direction they were heading. She didn’t trust the rebellion - the same people who’d assassinated her father - to value their lives as much as she did now. During her recovery, she’d fantasied about stealing a ship and taking them somewhere far away from both the Empire and the Alliance. Bodhi would follow her lead - he’d have questions but he’d do it. She might be able to talk Tonc and Danva around to the idea, but Cassian would be a problem, as usual. He’d never willingly abandon the cause he’d devoted his entire life to. Short of drugging and kidnapping him, which was both impractical and unethical, she saw no way to fit him into her escape plans and she wasn’t willing to leave him behind.

But even if they all agreed to escape, what would they do then? Find an obscure planet on the Outer Rim and become farmers, like her parents? She couldn’t see herself or Cassian being content with that kind of life - all they’d ever known was war and fighting. She doubted even Tonc and Danva would be happy in a situation like that. The only things Bodhi knew were ships and flying, being permanently grounded would be like losing a part of himself. And how long would it be before Imperial troops showed up at their door looking for Cassian or a bounty hunter came for Bodhi? She would fight and die for them without a moment's hesitation, but she dreaded another Lah’mu.

No matter how she altered the scenario, she couldn’t figure out a way to make it work. But she kept trying to come up with a solution anyway.

“Decided to come up for air at last?” a female voice asked teasingly. “Well it’s about time.”

Startled out of her thoughts again, Jyn looked around and saw Corporal Danva walking toward her, grinning. 

“Don’t get me wrong,” the soldier continued, stopping in front of her, “I’m all for it. Just tell me the date of the wedding and I’m there. I’ll even wear a dress uniform.”

“Shut up, Danva,” Jyn snorted. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Uh-huh.” Danva regarded her with a smirk. “Why don’t the two of you just admit it? You’re practically an old married couple already, might as well get the formalities out of the way and make it official.” She grinned broadly before relenting. “How is he?”

“Pretending to rest,” Jyn said, glad of the change of subject. “Frustrated with not knowing what’s going on. He’s wondering what it means that we’ve not been properly debriefed.”

Danva shrugged, unconcerned. “Does it have to mean anything? A lot happened while we were gone. The destruction Alderaan and the Death Star, the attack on Base One. I’m sure Alliance Command has more important things on their minds than us.”

Jyn tensed at the mention of Alderaan. The destruction of the planet was one of the many things she’d spent too much time mulling over lately. “Maybe,” she conceded, not really believing it. Then she looked at her shipmate appraisingly. Danva was avoiding something. “Were you coming to find me? What’s wrong?”

The Corporal looked taken aback for a moment, then shrugged her shoulders. “Nothing's wrong, but the _Compassion and Vigilance_ has been joined by a lot of other ships. If I had to guess, I’d say the fleet has caught up with us. Bodhi was on his way to the observation deck-” 

Before she could finish, Jyn was running in that direction. “Come on if you’re coming!” Jyn shouted behind her.

——

They found Bodhi standing alone with his back to them, facing the large observation window. 

“MC75 cruiser,” he said excitedly, pointing at a ship traveling parallel to their own. “That’s an EF76 Nebulon-B frigate,” he nodded at it as it passed above them and out of sight of the viewport, “a CR90 Corvette, and three Hammerheads.” He glanced over at Jyn and Danva, almost giddy with excitement, and gestured to all the other ships he hadn’t named. “Jyn, look at them all!”

She grinned at his reaction and came to stand beside him. The sector of space that they could see was full of starships and most were keeping pace with the hospital vessel. Danva was right - it looked like the rebel fleet was massing around them. 

“Why are they here?” she asked, not really expecting an answer. “Shouldn’t they be out fighting the Empire?”

“Maybe they’re getting ready for a battle?” Danva suggested.

“Or maybe they’re moving rebel headquarters?” Jyn pondered absentmindedly. They’d been told that the Yavin IV base had been targeted by the Death Star. Obviously the Alliance would need to find a new location for their primary operations.

“There you all are!” Jyn glanced over her shoulder to see Tonc jogging to join them. “I should’ve known you’d be up here.” He took his place on Bodhi’s right and watched the view with them. “There was a commotion on the bridge. Seeing all this I can understand why.”

Jyn looked sidelong at Tonc. “They let you on the bridge?” Any time she’d tried to stray from the public hospital spaces she’d received a gentle, but insistent refusal by the crew. 

“Well, maybe not ‘let’ per se,” he grinned a little sheepishly, “but when it’s busy people don’t always notice who’s walking in behind them.”

Jyn chuckled. It seemed Cassian wasn’t the only one curious about their situation. 

Danva shook her head in disbelief. “You’re going to get caught doing that one day and there’ll be hell to pay.”

“What’d you find out?” Jyn asked before he could reply. 

Tonc tilted his head and leaned ever so slightly into Bodhi. If the pilot noticed, he didn’t show any signs of it. “We’re bugging out of Yavin. Several Alliance Command staff are here with the fleet. Hey, you’ll never guess who I saw!” Tonc turned to look at Jyn and Danva. “General Draven. He came onboard maybe half an hour ago? I’m not sure what he’s doing here, but he was headed in the direction of our hospital wing. I’m surprised you didn’t see him too, Jyn.”

Draven? Here? Was this the debriefing that Cassian had been expecting? Jyn’s mind suddenly flashed back to Yavin IV before Jedha. She’d seen Cassian and Draven outside the base hanger, standing too close together as they spoke, trying to avoid being overheard. And what had Cassian said after Eadu? 

_“I had orders! Orders that I disobeyed!”_

When had he gotten those orders, she wondered. Was it on the trip to Eadu, or did it trace all the way back to the conversation on the tarmac at Yavin? She’d known that the Alliance had arranged her father’s assassination, but at the time she’d been too angry and devastated to think through the implications. Afterwards, the Death Star plans had been the priority or finding a way to survive on Takodana. But now everything she’d seen and heard fell into place and Jyn thought she could finally put a name to the man who had ordered her father’s death. 

General Draven.

Draven, who hadn’t believed her in the council meeting when she’d said the Death Star existed, that the flaw her father had put into the system was real. Who had ordered the attack on Eadu that had nearly killed them all. The man Cassian had disobeyed at least twice in order to help her.

She didn’t waste time wondering what she’d do when she got there, she simply ran for Cassian’s room as fast as she could. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm supposed to be writing about Danva and Jyn meeting Maz, but I woke up this morning with Jyn plotting to kidnap her crew in my head. So have this instead.


	3. Blowback

Cassian’s conversation with Draven had reached a lull, when the door burst open. 

Both men reacted instinctively. Draven spun around, one hand on his weapon, eyes searching for and evaluating the threat. For his part, Cassian attempted to bolt upright and reach for a blaster that was no longer there. The medical devices attached to him made an angry squealing noise as they stretched to a near breaking point, before pulling him back to the hospital bed with a thud. Cassian swore a string of curses, which he broke off once he saw the look on Jyn’s face. She was staring at him with a mix of fear, anger, and relief that he didn’t understand.

Her gaze quickly shifted to the other occupant of the room and her look hardened. 

General Draven had relaxed the moment he recognized her, his face twisted into a sneer of disdain. “Ah, the hero of the hour: Ms. Erso. We were just talking about you.”

“I bet you were,” she replied, her voice full of contempt. She stalked towards him.

“Jyn,” Cassian warned, “please think about what you’re about to do.” 

“Oh I have thought about it. I thought about it all the way here, from the instant I learned he,” she nodded toward Draven, “was onboard.”

“And?” Draven folded his arms over his chest with a look of deep disinterest. 

Jyn walked until she stood so close that she was almost touching Draven and glowered up at him. “Did you order my father’s death?” she asked, low and bitter. 

Draven barked a laugh in reply and Jyn balled her fists.

“Jyn…” Cassian reached for her arm to pull her away, but he wasn’t close enough. Both of the others ignored him.

“I don’t have to answer that,” Draven said simply. “What’s done is done.”

“And that’s it?” Jyn demanded with a toss of her head. “That’s all you have to say? My father’s sacrifice saved your rebellion.”

“After he put it and the rest of the galaxy at risk in the first place,” Draven added. “If he hadn’t help the Empire build the Death Star, it wouldn’t have been a threat.”

“They would have built it anyway!”

“You don’t know that! No one can know that.” He leaned forward, trying to intimidate her, but Jyn stood her ground. “All we can say with certainty is that he spent years helping the Empire devise weapons to kill millions and, at the last moment, he came up with a plan to sabotage one of them. That hardly makes the man a hero.” 

Jyn gritted her teeth and tensed, ready for a fight.

“Sir!” Cassian’s voice cut through the tension. “Whether or not Galen Erso was a hero has no bearing on whether his daughter is one.” He was gratified to see that they both turned to look at him then - it was exactly what he’d been hoping for. “And I think we can all agree that that’s exactly what she is. As I told you earlier, Jyn was vital to the success of the Scarif mission. The Alliance wouldn’t have those plans now if it weren’t for her.”

“Oh I’m sure you’re right, Captain.” Draven regarded Jyn coldly. “Given the trouble she’s caused the Alliance, I can’t imagine what kind of damage she did to the Imperials.” But he took a step away from her and moved toward the room’s only door. “Please relay the news I gave you to the rest of your team, Captain Andor. We will continue our conversation later.” And with that, he walked briskly from the room.

Cassian waited a few seconds to make sure he was gone before speaking. “Jyn-“

“I don’t want to hear it, Cassian.”

“Maybe not, but you can’t go around making enemies of people like General Draven.”

She spun to glare at him. “So, what? I’m supposed to keep my mouth shut? That murdering bastard is responsible for my father’s death! He nearly killed us all at Eadu and he wouldn’t even lift a finger to help at Scarif-“

“That’s not fair-“

“Fair! I don’t give a damn about fair!” 

“He’s trying to win a war-“

“And he doesn’t care who gets hurt as a result. That makes him no different than Saw-“

“It isn’t about not caring!” Cassian leaned forward, only to be snagged and pulled back again by the medical devices surrounding him. He lay still a moment and took a deep breath before continuing. “It’s about making choices that give us the best chances of ending all of this.”

She was pacing now. “So my father, you, me, Bodhi, Chirrut, Baze, K-2, Danva, Tonc, we’re all expendable as long as our deaths move the Alliance one step closer to their goals?”

“No one is expendable, but some things are more important than staying alive.” He looked at her and frowned. “I’m surprised you don’t get that, because it’s the reason we all chose to go to Scarif.”

“That was the Death Star. If it wasn’t stopped no one, no planet in the galaxy would have been safe.” 

“But that’s just it, Jyn,” he said urgently, “the Empire is the Death Star. We helped destroy a weapon but we haven’t stopped the will or purpose behind it. As long as they have power, they’ll continue to crush anyone who isn’t them, who isn’t in line with their ideology. The Death Star was a quick death; the Empire is a slow one. But we’re all still dead in the end unless we defeat them completely.”

Cassian watched as the fight drained out of her. She sat heavily on the edge of his hospital bed with her back to him, her shoulders hunched. “And what happens if we lose everything good along the way?” she asked, her voice quiet. “What’s the point of winning then?” 

“Then we have to hope that the people who come after us build something better on our bones.” He covered her hand with one of his own. “That they’ll make the galaxy into a place where this kind of evil is seen for what it is and fought before it can ever threaten anyone again.” 

Jyn laced their fingers together. “Maybe you’re right.” She glanced at him furtively. “But I’m selfish Cassian. I don’t want to save the galaxy for some hypothetical future that I may never get to see. I’ve spent so much of my life losing people. Finding someone, anyone who I can care about and who cares about me…” She stopped talking and closed her eyes for a few moments, her body tense. “People like that are too precious and rare to risk blindly. And I don’t trust someone like Draven to treat them as they deserve to be treated.” 

He studied her for a while before he answered. “You’re talking about me, aren’t you?”

“Of course I’m talking about you!” Jyn turned to look at him in exasperation. “Why do you think I’m here right now?”

Cassian felt a warm flush of pleasure and, despite the seriousness of the conversation, he couldn’t contain his grin. 

“Oh shut up!” She folded her arms over her chest and glared at him defiantly.

“No, no, no,” he said soothingly, “I’m not laughing at you. I’m just…pleased.” He reached out to her, gently grasping and pulling on her arms. After a few seconds, she relented and unfolded them, allowing Cassian to hold both of her hands now. “Tell me, what did you think you’d find when you stormed the room just now?”

“I thought you’d be gone,” she said, bluntly. “That he would have taken you and…I don’t know, punished you for disobeying him at Scarif and Eadu? Or maybe that he’d send you straight out on a new mission and I’d never see you again?” 

Finally it made sense: her brooding over what would happen to them now that they’d rejoined the rebellion; her vigil by his bedside as he recovered; her general testiness. He wondered how many people she’d seen hurt or killed for disobeying orders during her time with Saw Gerrera. “That’s not how it works, Jyn.” He shrugged. “For a whole host of reasons, chief among them that the Alliance can’t afford to waste resources and that includes personnel. Draven can be a difficult man and he isn’t always right, but he isn’t Saw. He’s not going to punish me, at least not in the way you mean, just because I made a different call. Especially not when it saved us from something really catastrophic.”

She looked at him skeptically. “So what did you talk about?”

He sighed. “The choices I made. My reasons for those choices, the evidence that led up to them, and the steps I took afterward.” It had been an uncomfortable conversation, but a necessary one and probably long overdue. “And there will still be consequences.”

“What do you mean?” she asked worriedly.

“Well I’m out of Intelligence Operations for the moment.” Maybe for good, he thought with a frown. He had mixed feelings about that, but moved on to what he knew for certain. “He’s transferring me to Analysis, at least until I’m fully recovered.” 

“What does that mean?”

“It means that I won’t be out in the field, I’ll be at Alliance headquarters, whenever it’s relocated.”

“So Tonc was right, they are leaving Yavin.” Then she narrowed her eyes at him and her mouth twitched into a small, sarcastic smile. “Wait. Analysis - is that a desk job?”

“Yes.” Cassian frowned, narrowing his eyes back at her. “Why?”

“You? In a desk job?” Jyn’s face broke into a wide grin. “I give it a week before you’re in Draven’s office daily asking to do anything else.”

His frown deepened. “I thought you wanted me out of harm’s way?”

“I do. But after everything we’ve been through, I know enough to know you won’t be happy with that for long.” She laughed. “If Draven doesn’t realize that too, he’s a fool. And, come on, there has to be something Alliance Intelligence needs done that falls in-between reading reports and assassinating people on Empire-controlled worlds.”

One corner of his mouth quirked up briefly. “Maybe. But maybe it’s just as well. I’m not sure I could continue doing the type of work I was doing.”

She studied him, her face serious again. “Since Eadu?”

“No, Eadu was the flashpoint, but this has been coming on for a while.” Then he hesitated and all traces of good humor vanished. 

Jyn nudged him with her leg. “What is it?”

“Draven wants me to undergo a psych eval,” Cassian replied, not meeting her eyes. “It’s something that Mon Mothma brought to his attention before the Jedha mission. She was worried about me, evidently.” 

Jyn raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Why?” 

“Most Operations agents don’t survive more than twenty missions, and…let’s just say I’m well over that.” He shrugged, looking uncomfortable. “I’ve been with Ops for most of the time I’ve been with the Alliance, and she’s worried…about what the long term effects of that might be.”

“Smart woman.” Jyn regarded him closely. “So they’re going to evaluate you. What happens then?”

“I don’t know.” He looked past her, the worry clear in his voice now. “Like I said, most agents don’t last as long as I have.” 

“So, we’ll have to wait and see.” 

That drew his attention back to her face. “We?” 

“Yes we, don’t be an idiot. I’m not abandoning you after all the trouble I had keeping you alive.” She grinned. “And if all else fails, I’m putting my original plan in place and kidnapping you to someplace quiet and out of the way until everyone comes back to their senses.” 

He relaxed a bit under her teasing, until at last he nodded. “Deal.”

“Deal,” she echoed, and they sat in companionable silence for a while. 

At last, Jyn cleared her throat and asked, “Draven said something about news?”

“Oh, yeah,” Cassian ran a hand through his hair - a nervous gesture, he noted, that he’d need to work on if he were to go out into the field again. “They had an award ceremony for the people responsible for blowing up the Death Star. We weren’t there, obviously, but they want to give us medals too - you, me, Tonc, Danva, and Bodhi.” 

“Really?” Jyn snorted. “Whose idea was that? Mon Mothma?”

“Draven didn’t say.” He leaned back, suddenly exhausted. “Now, if you don’t mind, some of us could use some rest.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “Why don’t you go tell the others?”

“And you’ll still be here when I get back?” she asked skeptically, but he could tell she was teasing.

“I promise,” Cassian said with a smile.

**Author's Note:**

> See, it was like this..
> 
> This started out as part of the "[In a Kinder Universe](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9235655/chapters/20944691)" story - something I was planning for a couple of sections down the line. But I suspect that a similar "Cassian getting treatment" scene for that story is going to happen in a different location now, so now this is an AU of my AU I guess? Maybe? 
> 
> Who knows, we'll all find out together.


End file.
